Thin Ice

Thin Ice 2/6/2014

Sometimes we lose our bearings

And veer off the track

Spinning our wheels in a ditch

Unable to escape.

And sometimes we weep

And bury our heads in our hands

Lamenting all, we have missed

And all, we have lost. 

I leaned on others

More than I should have

And when they were gone

I could barely stand at all.

There are days

When the words don’t come

And I sit here motionless

Staring at nothing.   

There is so much loss

And so much suffering

Most of it wasted

And unnecessary.

We keep taking the opiate

And we keep running away

Preferring lies to truth

And darkness to light.

We shrink back from love

And hold back our help

Afraid of taking chances

And being a fool. 

But no matter what we do

We lose anyway

And no matter how numb

We wake up sober. 

Thinking our way into circles

Until we feel hopeless and desperate

Unable to face the day

Awake and exposed.

Wasting our time

Trying to recreate

Those beautiful feelings of perfection

That can only come by grace.

None of us

Are immune

Not from this

And not from them.

Look at them

Dead in their beds

Just like us

Running away

From uneasy emotions. 

Inertia drags us down

And the weight of the world

Crushes our spirit

As we slug it out

For nothing at all. 

If only we could know

How loved we are

Then we would speak

And they would hear. 

Right now

They suffer

And right now

They dream

Of something better

That cannot be found.

You can lean on others

Or you can anesthetize your brain

But nothing can change reality

Its unexpected pleasures

Or wincing pain. 

If only we made the effort

And if only, we took the risks

All that was lost

Would remain

Here and now.

I give you my love

Because it is, what I have

Nothing more than this moment

One among, the countless probabilities

That we were born at all. 

Think on this

And think on that

Reaching for what is higher

And better.

There is no perfect time

And there is no perfect feeling

But only the human heart

Limitless and deep.